Gerry Colgan reviews Dreamin' of Mr H which was performed at Bewley's Cafe Theatre.

Dreamin' of Mr H, Bewley's Café Theatre

This is Dubliner Anto Howard's first play, written a few years ago when he was still a student. He has had glowing reviews for an off-Broadway production of a later one, Scattergood, and if his debut is now notable for potential rather than achievement, it clearly contains the seeds of a born writer in germination.

It opens with a crippled old woman, between bus pass and final terminal, lying in bed and interpreting the every movement of her son upstairs. He is the eponymous Mr H , and her feelings are less than maternal, especially since she found his store of pornography.

There is also a writer, whose creature she is, but who is not entirely successful at controlling her wayward thoughts.

The play offers other views of Mr H, such as that of a fat lady with numerous children. A loquacious colleague has another focus, and a local shopkeeper of a candy store, recently returned from America, finds him enigmatically attractive. So does a dance teacher who sees in him a kind of hope-bearer. He is finally observed through the eyes of a child, an ending with intentional but elusive significance.

The character of the writer infiltrates all these episodes, trying to shape his people to a coherent narrative.

He and the author are less than successful in this, but the writing is pyrotechnical, throwing out words and images to spark the imagination. The play constitutes at least an auspicious beginning.

The two actors - Gary Murphy and Emma McIvor, directed by the author - are confident in their roles. He is the writer, uncertainly trying to establish his pre-eminence. She is a variety of women, shaping voice, feature and movement to their dictates.

They are both well worth a visit.

Until Apr 29, 1.10pm